The Neuroimaging Training Program (NTP), funded by a grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, provides a cohesive curriculum and topic-specific mentorship for PhD students focused on neuroscience and biomedical imaging.

Technological advances in biomedical imaging have the potential to advance knowledge about the underlying etiology of brain disorders, mechanisms of treatment, and predictors of response. The NTP prepares students for careers in which they will further these advances into clinically relevant commercial products and services.

Students in this program have opportunities for research in many settings, including the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Surgical Planning Laboratory at Brigham & Women's Hospital, the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT. Students do research under the supervision of faculty members who lead major research programs in the areas of cognitive and systems neuroscience, neurodegeneration, CNS oncology, cerebrovascular pathophysiology, psychiatric diagnosis, and image-guided therapy.

Check out The MGH Martinos Center: The Student Experience video.

Academic Program

PhD students wishing to be formally affiliated with the Neuroimaging Training Program (NTP) must complete the following requirements in addition to the requirements of their primary PhD program. It is recommended that students select courses that can simultaneously fulfill other degree requirements whenever possible.

NTP students are required to take the following courses:

NTP students must also take two imaging electives such as the ones on the list below. One course is selected to provide depth of understanding in the imaging modality or medical image analysis methods most closely related to the student's research, while the other should be chosen for breadth of biomedical imaging knowledge outside of the research area.

  • HST 531: Medical Physics of Proton Radiation Therapy
  • HST 533: Optimization Problems in Radiation Therapy and Medical Imaging
  • HST 563: Imaging Biophysics and Clinical Applications
  • HST 565: Molecular Imaging using SPECT and PET-CT
  • HST 576: Topics in Neural Signal Processing
  • HST 580: Data Acquisition and Image Reconstruction in MRI
  • HST 583: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Data Acquisition and Analysis
  • HST 584: Magnetic Resonance Analytic, Biochemical, and Imaging Techniques
  • 2.715: Optical Microscopy and Spectroscopy for Biology and Medicine
  • 6.344: Digital Image Processing
  • 6.631: Optics and Photonics

For more information on the Neuroimaging Training Program, contact the Co-Directors:

Dr. Bruce Rosen
Director, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging
617-726-5122
bruce [at] nmr.mgh.harvard.edu (bruce[at]nmr[dot]mgh[dot]harvard[dot]edu)

Dr. Randy Hirschtick (Gollub)
Associate Director, Division of Psychiatric Neuroimaging, Massachusetts General Hospital
617-724-9602
rgollub [at] mgb.org (rgollub[at]mgb[dot]org) 

Admissions

In addition to the general admissions requirements for MEMP, candidates for the Neuroimaging Training Program must have completed at least a bachelor's degree or substantial minor in a related area (for example: computer science, biomedical engineering, mathematics, physics, nuclear engineering, biophysics, statistics, or computational neuroscience) as well as sufficient coursework or research experience in an area of basic or clinical neuroscience. Recommended preparation includes at least one undergraduate subject in each of the following areas: neurobiology, physics, organic chemistry, biochemistry, probability, and statistics.